The son of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was killed in a military operation authorised by former President Pervez Musharraf [Images], has submitted an application to the police to register a case against the ex-military ruler.

Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti, who heads a faction of the Jamhoori Watan Party, submitted an application to Quetta city police station for lodging an First Information Report against Musharraf in connection with the murder of his father and 66 other people of his tribe.

However, police officer Z S Kazmi told him that under the law, the case could be filed only in the police station of the area where the Akbar Bugti was killed.

"The case cannot be registered in the city police station because the incident did not take place in its jurisdiction," Kazmi said. Bugti, on the other hand, claimed nobody knew where his father and his supporters were murdered.

He said all these former government functionaries were involved in the murder of his father and his 66 supporters.

"The former President should be arrested, remanded in police custody for interrogation regarding the murder and tried under the law," Bugti said. Speaking out strongly against giving 'safe passage' to Musharraf, he said, "We will also consider as accused all those who allow him safe passage".

Akbar Bugti, 79, was killed in an operation carried out by the Pakistani armed forces in August 2006. At that time, Musharraf had described his death as a victory for Pakistanis and congratulated the officials who had carried out the operation against the Baloch rebel leader.

Akbar Bugti, who had earlier served as a federal minister and governor of the southwestern Balochistan, was for long linked to the struggle by Baloch nationalists for a greater say in the exploitation of their province's abundant natural resources.